The Reality of Normal
by ssirius-blackk
Summary: There's nothing more difficult than raising a pre-teen girl. Even more so when she gets her first period and has psychic abilities.


Some days, Chief Jim Hopper wished things were quiet and normal, like they used to be.

Sure, before the whole Upside-Down thing happened, he had been wandering aimlessly there for a while, deep in a depression that everyone saw, and no one could get through to him to pull him out. It was an admittedly boring existence, and while he wouldn't change anything now, he kind of missed the blissful ignorance of it all.

Then Eleven came into his life, permanently. Despite her strong psychic abilities, she was just a normal kid. She had likes and dislikes, weird obsession he didn't totally understand but tried to support anyways. Especially the Eggo thing, which was especially weird, but he made sure she ate actual food, like protein and vegetables, like a good dad would.

That was what he liked best about Elle. That he loved her so much as if she was his daughter, just as she seemed to love him as a father. Which he was, and he would punch anyone who said otherwise.

But it was because of that normalcy that Hopper really wished that things were boring again.

It started out like a normal Saturday morning. He made Elle breakfast - Eggos and actual eggs and orange juice and all that. They went through their routine of learning new words and concepts in the hopes that they could slowly integrate her into society. They both knew that it would be better if she started to hide in plain sight.

She was smiling her tiny, quiet smile after learning a particularly funny word when her expression suddenly changed. She looked like she was going to be sick, but she didn't look pale or anything like that. Elle bolted out of the chair and ran straight to the bathroom.

Hopper stared at the closed door and shrugged before going back to his breakfast.

He was about to drink some juice when the lights began to flicker, and the windows shook. He heard Elle sob loudly. He shot straight up, knocking over the juice glass and pouring it over his breakfast, not that he noticed. He stomped towards the bathroom. He was about to reach for the doorknob when he stopped himself and instead pounded on the door.

"Elle? Elle, are you okay?!" he asked.

"N-no!" he heard her say. "I-I'm…I'm bleeding!"

Hopper's eyes widened in surprise and he grabbed the doorknob only to find it was locked. He pounded on the door again, demanding she let him in, but she loudly refused, saying she didn't want him to see her.

"How the hell am I supposed to help you if you don't tell me where you're bleeding?!" he yelled.

She suddenly stopped crying. Hopper tried the door again, but it was still locked. _If she stopped crying, it must not be that bad, unless…_

Realization dawned on him.

 _Oh shit._

"I'll be right back. I'm going to go make a phone call." Hopper said quietly.

* * *

Eleven had faced Papa, Demogorgans, orderlies, men with guns and bullies in her thirteen short years, and was never truly frightened by any of them. But this…this weird bleeding…this truly frightened her.

It hurt, it hurt _so bad._ It was like getting punched in the stomach multiple times. But it felt worse than that, worse than the torture she went through when she was still in that place with Papa. But at the same time, she didn't _feel_ her life slip away. Like it looked like in the soap operas. But it felt just as bad.

She was used to bleeding from her nose after using her powers, but she hadn't used them in a while. Well, that wasn't entirely true. She used it on occasion in a much smaller scale, unlike when she closed the Gate.

Elle's eyes stung with tears. Maybe it was a delayed reaction? She did use more strength than she usually did then, it could've affected her in ways no one knew about.

Maybe she used her powers too much and her body was now slowly dying? Or maybe it was faster compared to other people.

 _Mike…_

If she died, she would never see Mike again. Or Dustin, or Lucas, or Will or Max or Joyce…or Hopper.

She couldn't leave Hopper alone. He was so lonely before, he had always looked sad. Now, he didn't look sad and she suspected it was because of her. She couldn't leave him like his first daughter left him.

With her soiled pants lying discarded on the bathroom floor, Elle climbed into the bathtub and sobbed some more.

If she was going to die, then she would try not to make too much of a mess.

* * *

Hopper was jumping up and down and pacing as he waited for Joyce to pick up. He never imagined he would have to deal with…with _this._ When his daughter was born, he and his ex would often stress over when she would ask personal questions, especially since she was so into science. It used to give him the creeps. And now, he was even more scared because he was suddenly thrown right into the middle of the fray that was teenage girls.

He was _so_ not looking forward to this conversation. But Joyce was the only woman he trusted and knew that Elle would also trust and be comfortable with.

After the fifth ring, a sleepy, feminine voice answered. "Hello?"

Hopper let out a sigh of relief. Thank God Joyce answered the phone.

"Hey, Joyce, it's Hopper," he greeted.

"Hey, what can I do for you?" she asked.

Hopper sighed and rubbed his face. He hated how direct she was being. She must be in a good mood. She did sound like she woke up from a nap, which was good that she was getting some sleep finally. But he sure as hell wasn't ready to ask her what he needed to ask her.

"Hopp? You still there?" she wondered.

"Yeah, yeah. Listen…are you free, like…now?" he said finally.

"Um, yeah. Jonathon's at work and Will is with his friends and I'm off today. What do you need?"

Hopper fell silent again. He could feel sweat drip down his face and his heart pound. He berated himself for freaking out over simple thing like biology, but it _wasn't_ simple and it _wasn't_ just any other kid. It was for a little girl who was poked and prodded and forced to do things no child should ever have been made to do, and she just wasn't _prepared_. But he wasn't prepared, either.

"Hopper? _Hopper!_ Jesus Jim, what the hell do you want?" Joyce demanded.

Joyce's surprisingly firm tone snapped him out of his thoughts. "It's just…Elle is…Elle is in the bathroom…having some lady problem stuff…"

"Mhmm…" she hummed. "And by 'lady problem stuff' you mean…?"

"Joyce, I am not equipped to…to talk to her…about…about…what happens when you…when a girl…"

"Yes?" she sounded so amused. Damn her.

"Damn it, Joyce, I don't know what the hell to do!" he yelled. "She's crying and freaking out! You need to come out here and help me! _Please!_ "

He heard Joyce laugh. It was nice to hear her laugh, even if it was at his expense.

"I'll be there in an hour. I need to pick up some things." She said.

"Yeah, yeah, of course," he said, "Listen, Joyce…I owe you one."

"Yes, you do. I'll see you two soon."

Hopper smiled. "Yeah, see ya."

He hung up the phone and leaned against the wall. He could hear Elle crying, but knew she wouldn't let him anywhere _near_ the bathroom.

He needed a smoke, a beer and maybe a shot in the head.

* * *

An hour and six minutes later, there was a knock at the door. Hopper knocked over every piece of furniture between him and the door to open it. He tugged on it harder than necessary, just barely missing his face. Joyce jumped, but quickly smiled when she saw him. She held up a brown paper bag full of crap he really didn't want to think about right then.

"Hey, Hopp." she greeted. He stepped aside to let her in. She reached inside her pocket for something, then pushed it against his chest. "Here's the receipt. You owe me $48.76."

Hopper felt his jaw practically drop to the floor as he read the receipt. "What? Why?"

"Because I had to get one of every type of product possible until Elle finds what works for her," she said, "Plus I got a couple of extra things to help ease the tension a little."

She brushed past him to the bathroom door. She stood before it and softly knocked. Hopper stood off, trying his damnedest not to pace. But he felt so anxious about the whole thing, he couldn't calm the fuck down.

"Elle? It's Joyce. Hopper called me and… _sort of_ told me what happened," she said quietly. "I know what you're going through, sweetheart. It's totally normal for girls like you and me. So, can you please let me in so I can help you?"

It was quiet for a long time. The silence was broken by the click of the doorknob. Joyce glanced at him and nodded reassuringly before opening the door and stepping through.

Hopper shook his head and reached for a cigarette and lighter. He was positive that wasn't going to live to see tomorrow.

* * *

The moment Joyce closed the door behind her, Elle launched herself into her arms and sobbed into her chest. Joyce was caught off guard by the action, but quickly wrapped her arms around the young girl and started to rock her gently. She rubbed circles against her back and ran her fingers through Elle's hair, whispering reassurances until Elle stopped crying.

Elle pulled away, sniffling. "You…you know what's wrong?" Elle asked.

Joyce smiled reassuringly. "I do. It's something called 'menstruation'. And it only happens to girls."

Elle's eyes widened. Joyce bit her lip to keep herself from laughing. Even if her expression was comical, Joyce knew that bleeding out suddenly would shocking to anyone, but most especially a little girl who never had a normal childhood. Not that she herself had one, nor her boys, but still. It was a sad thing to take away from someone so young.

"W-why?" Elle stuttered.

Joyce shrugged. "I don't know, actually. I think it might have something to do with babies, but that's a whole other conversation for another day."

Elle tilted her head, scrunching her eyebrows in confusion. Seeing that Joyce wasn't going to say anything further on the subject, she shrugged as well and glanced at the paper bag sitting on the floor.

"What's that?" she wondered, pointing at them.

Joyce picked up the bag and handed it to Elle. She looked in with a look of trepidation.

Joyce smiled widely. "Things that will help make things a little bit better."

She glanced at the floor and saw the mess that Elle had inadvertently made. She went to the bathtub and started the water

"But first, you're going to take a bath and relax," she said, walking towards the door, picking up the discarded pants along the way. "I'll get you some clean clothes and freak Hopper out even more."

It was the first that Elle had laughed in hours.

* * *

"Okay, Hopp, I'm going to give you a crash course in washing out blood from pants and underwear." Joyce informed him ten minutes later. She stood in front of him as he sat on the couch, working on his first beer.

Hopper looked up, scrunching his eyebrows together like he did whenever he was confused. Joyce always thought that it was endearing, because he was rarely looked confused.

He continued to stare at her until she hauled him from his place from the couch and dragged him to the laundry room.

"Seriously, Hopper, you need to grow up a little bit right now. This going to happen about a hundred more times and she's going to need your help." She lectured.

"Uh…" was all Hopper could manage to say as Joyce went through the steps of how to get blood out and into the washing machine.

Just as quickly as she came, she left him alone with a bloody pair of pants and figurative dust in her wake.

He glanced at the pants and then the bottle he still had in his hand. He looked between them a few more times before whispering, "It's like goddamn Carrie," then downed his beer.

* * *

For the next hour, Joyce explained, as best as she could, what periods were. She explained the different products and what they were used for, and how to use a calendar to help mark when her period would start and how long it would last. She had even explained how to get blood stains out of her clothes. She then fed Elle her weight in chocolate.

It was overwhelming at first, but while Elle still felt awful, everything that Joyce was doing for her helped.

They were still in the bathroom, sitting on the floor and leaning against the door, finishing the last bar of chocolate.

"Do you think Mike had this talk?" Elle asked suddenly.

Joyce paused and stared at her for a moment before laughing out loud. Elle gave the older woman a confused look, unsure why Joyce found it so funny.

"Mike's parents are…conservative. As much as Karen tries to be progressive, she's just as traditional as her mother," Joyce said once she finished laughing. "And Ted…he's probably just as bad as my ex-husband Lonnie, even if he is there all the time."

"Besides, the only reason why everyone goes to their house is because they have a giant basement." She added bitterly.

Elle thought for a moment and realized that Joyce was actually _jealous_ of Mike's mom. Not that she ever met her, but she always seemed nice from what Mike and the others told her. The only not so nice things that were said were about his dad, but she felt it was because he was lazy compared to Hopper.

Elle shook her head. Families were still a confusing concept for her. The definition kept changing with every person that she talked to.

The only thing that stayed the same was "friend".

Elle finished her chocolate, wiped her hands on her pants and turned and faced Joyce. She stared straight into her eyes, trying to convey a very important question she had always wanted to ask.

"Joyce…are you my friend?" she asked quietly.

Joyce's eyes watered. She gently framed Elle's face, rubbing her thumbs against her cheeks.

"Of _course_ I am, sweetheart," she replied before placing a kiss on her forehead. She pulled Elle in for a tight hug. "And I always will be."


End file.
